Frederic S. Ury

Frederic S. Ury is a founding member of the firm Ury & Moskow, L.L.C. in Fairfield, Connecticut.  He is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer and past President of the Connecticut Bar Association (2004-2005).

Mr. Ury has been practicing law for 43 years.  He is an AV rated attorney by Martindale Hubble and has been listed as one of the Super Lawyers in General Litigation in New England and in Connecticut for the past eight years (2006 - present). He has been listed in the Best Lawyer's in Connecticut.

He was admitted to the Connecticut Bar and U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in 1977, the New York Bar in 1989, and the United States Supreme Court in 1982.

Mr. Ury is a prominent trial lawyer in criminal, and civil matters. Mr. Ury also represents other attorneys accused of ethical violations.  In addition he represents special needs children in all aspects of their needs including guardianships and conservatorship applications.

Mr. Ury earned his Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts in 1977 and his B.S. degree with highest distinction from Babson College in 1974.

A frequent lecturer, Mr. Ury speaks on such diverse topics as civil procedure and ethics, as well as the Future of the Legal Profession throughout the United States.  For the past 15 years, he has presented an annual seminar to attorneys in Connecticut on Civil Procedure.  He has presented seminars and demonstrations on trial techniques at several trial advocacy seminars produced by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and the Connecticut Bar Association.

Mr. Ury has successfully brought as well as defended hundreds of cases to conclusion in Connecticut's Superior, Appellate, and Supreme Courts.  Representative appellate cases include: Carrol v. Allstate Insurance Company, 262 Conn. 433, 815 A.2d 119 (2003); National Loan Investors, LP v. Heritage Square Associates, 54 Conn.App. 67, 733 A.2d 876 (1999); Paige v. Town Plan and Zoning Commission of Town of Fairfield, 235 Conn. 448, 668 A.2d 340 (1995); Paige v. Town Plan and Zoning Commission of Town of Fairfield, 231 Conn. 934, 649 A.2d 256 (1994); Manndorff v. Dax, 13 Conn.App. 282, 535 A.2d 1324 (1988); Marion Road Association v. Harlow, 1 Conn.App. 329, 472 A.2d 785 (1984).

In addition to his service as President of the Connecticut Bar Association in 2004-2005, Mr. Ury is an active member of numerous professional associations including the Connecticut Bar Association's Litigation Section where he served as vice-chair (1992-1993) and chair of the Section (1993-1996).  He has served as chair and co-chair of the Continuing Education Committee and was founding Editor-in-Chief of the Litigation Section's newsletter, Sidebar.  From 2005-2010, he was co-chair of the Attorney Trustee Defalcation Committee which was established by the Connecticut Bar Association to deal with the increasing problem of attorney defalcations.

He is the 2013 recipient of John Eldridge Shields Distinguished Professional Service Award which was awarded by the Connecticut Bar Association at their annual meeting. He received the Career Service Award from the Greater Bridgeport Bar Association in 2015.  In 2019 he received the National Conference of Bar Presidents Fellows Award.

He is also a member of the American Association for Justice, American Bar Association, Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, Fairfield County Bar Association, New York Bar Association, and the Bridgeport Bar Association.

Mr. Ury has held several positions with the National Conference of Bar Presidents ("NCBP"). In 2005, he began a three year on the Executive Council of NCBP.  He has been on the Programming Committee of the NCBP since 2004 to present.   He was Secretary, Treasurer, and President-Elect of the organization over the years 2009-2011.  He was President of NCBP from 2011-2012.

Mr. Ury has been active in the American Bar Association.  He was a member of the American Bar Association's House of Delegates from 2004-2009.  In 2009, he was one of 13 people appointed by ABA President Carolyn Lamm to sit on the Ethics 20/20 Commission which was charged with reviewing the Model Code of Professional Responsibility and making appropriate changes to bring the Code up to date.  He was co-chair of the Technology Sub-committee of the Commission.  The Ethics 20/20 Commission completed its work in February 2013 and successfully presented several changes to the ABA House of Delegates which adopted all the proposals that were presented.  After this task force he served on the ABA Task force on the Future of Legal Services.

In August 2012, he was appointed by President Laurel Bellows to be Chair of the Standing Committee on Professionalism for the ABA.  He was reappointed by two succeeding Presidents of the ABA to be Chair.  In 2018 he was appointed to be Chair of the Coordinating Council for the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility.  Mr. Ury has been re-appointed by the ABA President to that position for the 2019-2020 bar year and for the 2020-2021 bar uear.

In 2007, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Bar Foundation.  He remained a director until 2017 at which time he became Director Emeritus.  He has been a Member of the James Cooper Fellows since 2005.  He was Chair of the Nominating Committee for the James Cooper Fellows from 2010-2012. 

In 2010, he was appointed by the Connecticut Judicial Branch as a member of the Bar Examining Committee for the State of Connecticut.  He is presently still on the Bar Examining Committee.

Mr. Ury has been a court-appointed fact finder/arbitrator for the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch over 17 years.  He is also on the panel of neutral arbitrators for the Alternative Dispute Center in New Britain and is a State Department of Education Hearing Officer as well as a hearing officer for the Department of Developmental Services.  In addition, he has performed numerous mediations and arbitrations for members of the private bar.

Mr. Ury was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Chase T. Rogers in 2007 to serve as one of two attorneys on the Steering Committee of the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch's Public Service and Trust Commission.  The commission was charged with developing a long-range plan for the Judicial Branch.  In 2008, he was appointed along with The Honorable Douglas Mintz to be co-chair of the Uniformity of Court Rules Committee, which was a sub-committee of the Public Service and Trust Commission. From 2006-2010, he was a Committee Member of the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch's Identity Theft Committee.

Over the years, Mr. Ury has also been active in the local community.  He served on the Community Council of Westport-Weston from 1982-1984; was a member of the Board of Directors for United Way of Westport-Weston from 1985-1995; was a member of the Board of Trustees for Babson College from 1975-1981 and a Corporation Member from 1975-1985.  He was President of the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism from 1997-2000; and was Co-Chair of the Long-Range Planning Committee for the Congregation from 2007-2008.

Since 2009, he has been a Trustee of the Westport-Weston Foundation and the Hurlburt Trust.  He is presently Chair of the Westport Weston foundation.  Both trusts give money to families in need in the Westport and Weston Connecticut communities.

Mr. Ury has also devoted much personal and professional time to pro bono and philanthropic activities.  For 13 years, he was a court-appointed special public defender for the Connecticut Superior Court in Stamford and Bridgeport.  In the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, Mr. Ury and the firm donated hundreds of hours of free legal representation to World Trade Center victims and their families in hearings before the Victims' Compensation Board.  As a result, he and the firm helped recover millions of dollars for the 9/11 victims' families.

Mr. Ury is an avid bicyclist and is a founding member of Charity Treks, Inc., a not-for-profit charity organized in 2002 dedicated to raising funds for research into finding a vaccine for AIDS. (See www.charitytreks.org for more information.)